Official Summary Text
HB2805 - 572R - Senate Fact Sheet
Assigned to
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COMMITTEE
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh
Legislature, Second Regular Session
FACT SHEET FOR
H.B. 2805
electronic signatures;
nomination petitions
Purpose
Requires the
Secretary of State (SOS) to provide for nomination petitions for outlined local
governing boards to be signed using E-Qual and requires candidates seeking
office to designate alignment with a recognized political party, or lack
thereof, within the E-Qual system before using the system.
Background
The SOS must
provide a system for qualified electors to sign a nomination petition by way of
a secure internet portal, otherwise known as E-Qual. The E-Qual system must
allow only those qualified electors who are eligible to sign a petition for a
particular candidate to sign the petition and must also provide a method for
properly verifying the qualified elector's identity. The E-Qual system is
available to candidates for: 1) statewide and legislative offices; 2)
municipal, county, justice of the peace, constable and precinct committeeman
offices; 3) federal offices; and 4) certain judicial offices (A.R.S. ��
16-316
;
16-317
;
16-318
;
and
16-319
).
Statute
prescribes the minimum number of signatures that certain nomination petitions
must contain as follows: 1) for a candidate for governing board of a school
district or a career technical education district (CTED), at least one-half of
one percent of the total voter registration in a school district or CTED if the
board members are elected at large, or one percent of the total voter
registration in a single member district if governing board members are elected
from single member districts, or one-half of one percent of the total voter
registration in the single member district if CTED district board members are
elected from single member districts; 2) for a candidate for a community
college district, at least one-quarter of one percent but not more than ten
percent of the total voter registration in the precinct; and 3) for a candidate
for a governing body of a hospital district or multi-county water conservation
district, at least one-half of one percent of the vote in the special district,
but not fewer than 5 signatures and not more than 250 signatures (
A.R.S.
� 16-322
).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund
associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1.
Requires
the SOS to allow for qualified electors to use a secure internet portal to sign
a nomination petition for candidates for the governing boards of:
a)
school districts or CTEDs;
b)
community college districts;
c)
hospital districts; and
d)
multi-county
water conservation districts.
2.
Requires
the secure internet portal to:
a)
allow only those qualified electors who are eligible to sign the
petition for a particular candidate to sign the petition;
b)
provide for a method for the qualified elector's identity to be properly
verified; and
c)
provide
for the SOS to transmit those filings or a facsimile to the officer in charge
of elections for the appropriate office.
3.
Allows a candidate to collect all of the candidate's nomination petition
signatures by use of the online signature collection system.
4.
Requires any candidate that is allowed to use the secure internet portal
to designate whether the candidate is aligned with a recognized political
party, is independent or is unaffiliated without regard to whether the
candidate is nominated by a recognized political party, or is otherwise
designated, before using the portal and only for the purposes of the portal.
5.
Requires all candidates that are allowed to use the secure internet
portal to be afforded equal access to the portal, including equal access for
any candidate who submits petition signatures electronically to the filing
officer for candidates for county, city, town or school board office.
6.
Prohibits the SOS from denying, limiting, conditioning, delaying or
otherwise restricting access to the online signature collection system based on
the candidate's political party affiliation, lack of political party
affiliation, method of nomination or ballot designation.
7.
Requires
the SOS to:
a)
apply any rule, policy or procedure uniformly to all candidates who use
the secure internet portal;
b)
not take any action that results in disparate treatment among candidates
for the same office; and
c)
not
prescribe, adopt or enforce any rule or procedure that interprets, expands,
limits or otherwise modifies the requirements relating to equal treatment of
candidates who use the secure internet portal.
8.
Becomes effective on the general effective date.
House Action
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Prepared by Senate Research
March 13, 2026
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Current Bill Text
Read the full stored bill text
HB2805 - 572R - H Ver
House Engrossed
electronic
signatures; nomination petitions
State of Arizona
House of Representatives
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
HOUSE BILL 2805
AN
ACT
amending title 16, chapter 3, ARTICLE 2,
Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding sections 16-319.01 and 16-319.02; relating
to nominating procedures.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 16, chapter 3, article 2,
Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding sections 16-319.01 and
16-319.02, to read:
START_STATUTE
16-319.01.
Secure online signature collection; districts; applicability
A. Notwithstanding any other statute
in this title, the secretary of state shall provide a system for qualified
electors to sign by way of a secure internet portal a nomination petition for
candidates for the governing board of any of the following:
1. school district or career
technical education district.
2. Community college district.
3. hospital district.
4. multi-county water conservation
district.
B. The online signature collection
system shall allow only those qualified electors who are eligible to sign a
petition for a particular candidate to sign the petition, shall provide a
method for the qualified elector's identity to be properly verified and shall
provide for the secretary of state to transmit those filings or a facsimile of
those filings to the officer in charge of elections for the appropriate office.
A candidate prescribed by this section may choose to collect all of the candidate's
nomination petition signatures by use of the online signature collection system
prescribed by this section.
C. This section applies only to
candidates for the offices PRESCRIBED by this section.
END_STATUTE
START_STATUTE
16-319.02.
Secure online
signature collection; offices; equal access; application
A.
Before A
candidate seeking office in an election prescribed by section 16-316,
16-317, 16-318 or 16-319.01 is
eligible to use the secure
INTERNET portal ESTABLISHED by the secretary of state, the CANDIDATE shall
designate through the secure internet portal, and only for purposes of the
portal, that the candidate is aligned with a recognized POLITICAL party, is independent
or is unaffiliated, without regard to whether the candidate is nominated by a
recognized political party, is registered as an independent or unaffiliated or
is otherwise designated.
B. All candidates for elections
PRESCRIBED in subsection A of this section shall be afforded equal access to
the secure internet portal ESTABLISHED and maintained by the secretary of state
for purposes of collecting ELECTRONIC signatures for candidate petitions,
including equal access for any candidate who submits petition signatures
electronically to the filing officer prescribed by section 16-311 for
candidates for county, city, town or school board office.
C. The secretary of state may not
deny, limit, condition, delay or otherwise restrict access to the online
signature collection system based on a candidate's political party affiliation,
lack of political party affiliation, method of nomination or ballot
designation.
D.
Notwithstanding section 16-452, tHE SECRETARY OF STATE
shall:
1. apply
Any rule, policy or procedure uniformly TO ALL CANDIDATES who are SUBJECT TO
THIS SECTION AND MAY NOT take any action that results in DISPARATE TREATMENT
AMONG CANDIDATES for the same office.
2. not
prescribe,
adopt or enforce any rule or
procedure that
interprets, expands, limits or otherwise modifies the
provisions of this section.
END_STATUTE